Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory marked his 75th birthday Dec. 7 with a party in his honor hosted by the central pastoral administration staff of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, and then celebrating Mass at the archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Hyattsville, Maryland.
Father Anthony Lickteig, the Episcopal Vicar for Clergy and Secretary for Ministerial Leadership, served as host of the mid-morning birthday party and called it “a great opportunity to wish Cardinal Gregory a happy and wonderful birthday.”
In praying for the cardinal, Father Lickteig said, “We gather in gratitude for our bishop, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, and we give thanks for the gift of his life and all the ways over the past 75 years” that God has entered his life.
Washington Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville toasted the cardinal and called him “a wonderful shepherd.”
Noting the large gathering of employees who came together to congratulate the cardinal, Bishop Dorsonville said, “It is a sign of respect and love of the people you serve and the people you collaborate with. You have a family who really loves you.”
Bishop Dorsonville also thanked Cardinal Gregory for agreeing to Pope Francis’s request that he be the new archbishop of Washington in 2019.
“You weren’t afraid to say ‘yes’ (to the new assignment) and to embrace us,” Bishop Dorsonville told Cardinal Gregory. “You came to walk with us and not with any particular agenda but to love the Church and love Jesus Christ.”
During the celebration, a video photo gallery of the cardinal’s life was presented, highlighting events from Cardinal Gregory’s boyhood up until this fall.
“You know how you go to someone’s house, and they show you a video of what they did on their vacation? Well, I just showed you a video of what I did for the past 75 years,” the cardinal quipped in thanking everyone for the presentation.
The future Cardinal Gregory was born on Dec. 7, 1947. As a sixth grader, he began attending St. Carthage School in Chicago, and within weeks decided that he wanted to become Catholic, and by the end of the school year, he had been baptized, confirmed and received his First Communion.
Father Wilton Gregory was ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1973. A decade later, he was ordained as an auxiliary bishop for Chicago just after turning 36, becoming the nation’s youngest Catholic bishop at that time.
In 1994, Bishop Gregory was installed as the bishop of Belleville, Illinois, where he served for 11 years, until being named as the archbishop of Atlanta by Pope St. John Paul II. Pope Francis on April 4, 2019 named Archbishop Gregory as the new archbishop of Washington, succeeding Cardinal Donald Wuerl. In 2020, Cardinal Gregory was elevated to the College of Cardinals, making him the first African-American to be so named.
Addressing his coworkers, Cardinal Gregory noted that “the last four years have been among the happiest in my life.”
“I am grateful to God. I am grateful to the Holy Spirit. I am grateful to all of you who do the work of the Church,” he said. “I look forward to the time God grants me and the time we are together.”
During the Mass, prayers were offered for the cardinal that he would be “blessed with every virtue and given many more years.”
“We come together as one family – God’s family – knowing we are loved,” the cardinal said during the Mass. “Today I am honored and made to feel humble by all your kindnesses.”
